A Federal Way man is accused of fatally shooting a man at a Kent bus stop, then stealing his car to flee the scene on Nov. 26 last year, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Corniche L. Washington, 32, was charged with premeditated first-degree murder and taking a motor vehicle without permission on Jan. 12. His bail is set to $2 million. His prior convictions include third- and fourth-degree domestic violence assaults.
Washington is in custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona, said Sgt. Monica Bretado on Jan. 17. The charging documents didn’t state how Washington was caught in Arizona.
Charging documents accuse Washington of shooting and killing 39-year-old Antonio Wells, of Federal Way, on the afternoon of Nov. 26. Just two days before, Wells’ teen sons — ages 16 and 14 — were wounded in a shooting at the same location.
“Not content with shooting the victim to the ground, the defendant returned to where the victim lay wounded on the street and fired several more [rounds]. He then climbed into the victim’s vehicle and fled from shocked and traumatized onlookers,” wrote Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Seaver in the charging documents.
Around 2:47 p.m. Nov. 24, several people reported a shooting at a bus stop near Pacific Highway South and Kent Des Moines Road. Two boys were injured in the shooting and transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
On Nov. 26, police found an unconscious man — later identified as Wells — next to the Kent bus stop in the roadway. Wells died at the scene and a King County Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy found he had been shot four times.
Police found six 9mm bullet casings near Wells’ body with a fired bullet and multiple bullet fragments, documents state. Officers also found four .45 casings in the grass near the roadway, “indicating there were two shooters at the scene,” documents state.
A witness reported that Wells was driving a black 2018 Cadillac Escalade and made a U-turn over the dividing median from the northbound highway lanes into the southbound lanes, stopping at the bus stop no the west side of Pacific Highway.
Wells got out of the car and approached a man who he called a “shooter” and another woman outside a vacant building near the bus stop, the witness reported. Wells reportedly confronted the man then walked away, the witness said. The man said something to Wells and Wells returned, then punched the man “a couple times,” the witness told police.
Witnesses told police Wells warned others near the bus stop about the shooting which injured his sons and told them to be careful. The shooter said he felt Wells was threatening him and then said, “I should pop you” before Wells punched him, documents state.
Wells was walking back to his vehicle when the man pulled out his gun and fired twice at Wells, documents state. The man then fired three more shots at Wells as he was on the ground.
Another person who witnessed the shooting described it as “an execution,” according to documents.
The man who shot Wells then got into Wells’ Escalade and the witness heard several more gunshots before he drove off, documents state.
An anonymous Crime Stoppers tip helped police identify the suspect as Corniche Washington.
Police later recovered a black Escalade at the Federal Way apartment complex where Washington lives. The vehicle had five bullet holes on the passenger side.
On Dec. 1, 2021, detectives searching Washington’s apartment found clothing that matched the suspect’s clothing in the video footage of the shooting. They also found a 2018 Escalade manual that was missing from Wells’ vehicle and 9mm bullets similar to those found at the scene.
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